Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong fell Monday as investors cautiously await key domestic economic data and other U.S. indicators that will help shape the Federal Reserve’s policy expectations.
** Trade frictions remain another major concern for markets. China and the European Union have agreed to begin discussions on the planned imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles imported into the European market, senior officials from both sides said on Saturday.
**Stock market valuation reflected weak economic fundamentals, stocks and the yuan are likely to consolidate at current levels pending more data and policy measures,” said Nie Wen, economist at Hwabao Trust.
** China is due to release May industrial profits on Friday and the June manufacturing survey on Sunday, while traders will also focus on the US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which serves as a the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, which is due to be released Friday.
** At midday, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.7% at 2,977.24 points.
**China’s CSI300 index was down 0.16%, with the real estate index down 1.73% and the healthcare subindex down 0.24%.
** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 1.12% to 6,367.53 points, while the Hang Seng index fell 1.02% to 17,844.89 points.
** The smaller Shenzhen index fell 1.47%, the start-up ChiNext Composite index fell 0.61% and the tech-focused Shanghai STAR50 index fell of 1.04%.
** In the region, MSCI’s index of Asian stocks excluding Japan fell 0.92%, while Japan’s Nikkei index rose 0.46%.
**The yuan was quoted at 7.2616 per US dollar, 0.01% lower than the previous close of 7.2609. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
